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A Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing (KNH) official has been sacked after he was found to have demanded and taken cash 'backhanders' from a sub-contractor he was using.

ExaminerLive can now reveal the claims from the sub-contractor, who approached us late last year, after they were confirmed in secret Kirklees Council documents leaked to us last week.

The sub-contractor, who does not want to be identified, says he was forced to pay thousands over the years, to a KNH manager who dished out contracts for maintenance of council homes around the borough.

A restricted document from KNH – Kirklees Council's council housing organisation – confirms the man's claims were investigated and found to be true.

KNH has confirmed its member of staff was dismissed following an investigation sparked by complaints from the sub-contractor, who claimed the fraud had been going on for eight years.

The restricted Kirklees Council document that revealed a Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing official had been dismissed for taking cash payments from a sub-contractor in exchange for work (Image: unknown)

Speaking to ExaminerLive, the sub-contractor said: "He would make you pay a cut out of what you earned for each job as a payment for securing you work.

"I kept logs of everything just in case and didn’t realise what was going on until I mentioned it to someone else who works on the council.

"It’s the most corrupt thing in the world.

"He was taking a cut from each job I did. When I started this was my only job and they could have easily got rid of me and I needed the work.

"I went to the council and they were like “Wow, this is crazy”.

"My business takes about £50,000 and I have to pay tax, then I had to pay a KNH tax of £4,000 to 5,000 a year, so it was screwing me over.

"This has left me in debt.

"I was completely demoralised by this."

Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing, St. Andrews Road, Huddersfield.

The secret document reveals the sacked employee has appealed the decision to dismiss him.

It goes on: "The investigation highlighted serious concerns around compliance with the company's financial and contract procedure rules, and EU procurement rules, with regards to sub-contractor selection and the award of work."

Despite this KNH has confirmed that it has not called in West Yorkshire Police and says its investigation found no further cases of backhanders.